LABORATOIRE DE PHYSIQUE THEORIQUE DE LA MATIERE CONDENSEE

LUNDI 10 SEPTEMBRE A 10H45

Vardan Kaladzhyan (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm)

Topology from Triviality

We show that bringing into proximity two topologically trivial systems can give rise to a topological phase. More specifically, we study a 1D metallic nanowire proximitised by a 2D superconducting substrate with a mixed s-wave and p-wave pairing, and we demonstrate both analytically and numerically that the phase diagram of such a setup can be richer than reported before. Thus, apart from the two "expected" well-known phases (i.e. where the substrate and the wire are both simultaneously trivial or topological), we show that there exist two peculiar phases in which the nanowire can be in a topological regime while the substrate is trivial, and vice versa.